Chapter 14: Appearance Reflects the Heart

Su Ziceng didn’t know whether to curse the Chang’s mother and daughter or to curse Su Qingzhang. She searched around in Zone 5, found a bank, took out her bank card, picked a teller, and casually threw it, saying, "Withdraw all the cash inside." "Miss, I’m sorry, your card has been frozen." The bank teller handed the card back. Su Ziceng then searched through her purse, finding only a little over a thousand in cash. After hearing Uncle Zhong’s words, she had thought about running away from home, and deliberately left her pager in the car. She took out a few more cards and tossed them on the counter as if she were setting up a street stall. Complying with the arrangements, just like before, and obediently following Su Qingzhang’s orders, Su Ziceng spread open her palm, looking at the life line that ended abruptly in the center of her palm. She had a premonition that if everything remained the same as before, she would ultimately become that powerless Su Ziceng, ending her life at Su Qingzhang’s funeral. "Miss, none of these can be used." The teller handed back the cards. People inside the bank had begun to talk, and customers lined up behind urged, "Hurry up, hurry up." What to do? Su Ziceng couldn’t even be bothered to take back the cards. After leaving the bank, she walked aimlessly on the streets. Besides Daoquan University, besides Su Qingzhang, did she really have no other choice? If she did not attend Daoquan University, without even a basic college degree, her life would be like those shiny bank VIP cards, utterly useless. A sprinkler truck drove by on the street, its nozzles spraying out streams of water, and Su Ziceng, unable to dodge in time, got drenched. The cold water fell on her body, quickly seeping into her clothes, and the children who deliberately ran up to it got soaked as well, laughing and chasing after the sprinkler truck, splashing water high into the air, turning it into a mist. In the hazy mist, a rainbow arch formed, its colors as enchanting as the "Red Love" on her finger. Su Ziceng jolted alert, her mind much clearer. The original Su Ziceng also had nothing, no love, and no family ties. When she cut her wrists, what was left? Now, Su Ziceng lowered her head, looking at that ring, then looking at the nearby Sixth District, where the people also had no money, no academic credentials, and also had nothing. They could manage; why couldn’t she, Su Ziceng? Accompanied by the music from the sprinkler truck, Su Ziceng briskly walked towards the Sixth District. Behind her, in that chic "Admiration" boutique store, behind the shop window, the dense eyelashes seemed to have been sprayed by the sprinkler too, adorned with unfading ice drops, finally transforming into a pair of cat-like eyes. "Who is it so early in the morning?" Yu Hua’s God Stick’s intact eye was still clouded with sleepiness, and he turned over in bed. After hearing a terrible shattering sound from his frail door, he could no longer endure it and walked out. When he saw Su Ziceng, he wasn’t very surprised. People who received his "few words of truth" often couldn’t last three days before coming back to seek more information. "I am not going to tell you." He would often deal with them this way, then push people out through the cracked wooden door. "Heavenly Secrets should not be casually revealed; if revealed further, my other eye would be gone too." People would still not give up, continuously begging through the crack in the door. "You..." Yuhua’s God Stick looked at the wooden door that had shielded him from innumerable "storms" and the greatly expanded crack, withdrawing the so-called "Heavenly Mechanism Theory" back. "You haven’t finished yet." Su Ziceng opened her hand and waved it in front of him. "The only lifelineyou mentioned was inaccurate. Take another look; there are a few more, especially the wisdom line. Any changes related to my studies?" Before her rebirth, she had at least graduated from a reputable university; she could not have lived again only for everything to change. "Don’t crowd so close." Yuhua’s God Stick stared at that pale hand almost hitting his nose. "Once I’ve seen a palm once, I never forget it. You have a Vajra Life, also commonly known as Broom Star. You can’t even manage your own life, let alone worry about the others." That hand kept moving closer to his eyelid. "Wait," Yuhua’s God Stick’s eyes, like burst fireworks, said, "How is that possible?" Without any hesitation, he grabbed Su Ziceng’s palm and looked at her lifeline from yesterday; the original three lines were still there but seemed to have changed. The lifeline he called ‘Half-Life’ had a gap in the middle, as if someone slammed on brakes halfway through, then it continued downwards, and oddly enough, her other lines had also changed. How could such a huge change occur in just a few days? The basic three lines in one’s palm represent the Wisdom Line, the Emotion Line, and the Life Line. Su Ziceng’s Life Line stumbled, while her originally clean Emotion Line also sprouted curved fine lines. Strangest of all was beside the Wisdom Line, where an additional branch formed; it was the deepest line, stretching all the way to her wrist, connecting with the veins embedded in her wrist, as if everything was tied to that Wisdom Line. "Impossible." Yuhua's God Stick explored those peculiar lines. "What exactly happened to you these days?" His words were filled with excitement, holding onto Su Ziceng tightly, his tone as if Su Ziceng and he were lovers who had experienced life and death separations. One moment he was a dismissive fortune teller; the next he became a caring relative. Su Ziceng withdrew her hand and glanced at it too. Her lifeline seemed to have changed. Before her rebirth, her temperament was like Qiao Chu’s in Red Love, who was neither religious nor superstitious; thus, she never closely examined her palm lines. "Do you know Chang Mei?" Su Ziceng knew the changes in her palm lines must be related to her rebirth; these things she still couldn’t tell this ambiguous fortune teller. "Impossible," Yuhua's God Stick rushed into the room, pulled out a pile of divination tools from inside, and threw them on the ground messily. "Tell me your full birthday, and I’ll help you cast a divination." Seeing his lack of reaction to the name Chang Chi, he must not know her. Su Ziceng made up a random date; fearing further pestering, she took the chance to flee. Yuhua’s God Stick couldn’t be bothered with that door, first using bamboo sticks, then turtle shells, and finally even tarot cards, but still without any result. "Senior brother, what are you fussing about so blindly?" The wooden door was propped up, and a tall figure loomed over Yuhua’s God Stick, backed by the sunlight. "Pello, the art of palmistry divination in the East and West converges in the same vein. Have you ever encountered someone whose palm lines changed?" Han raised his head and asked seriously. "Do you have a saying in the East that 'appearance follows the heart'?" The wooden door was put back in its place; the man known as Pello took off his glasses, his features sharp, dressed in a "Kelly Women’s College" uniform.